A Journey in Enterprise UX

“Ugly”, “hard to use”: many enterprise tools used daily have a bad reputation and suffer from poor design. There’s a giant potential for improvement for the courageous designer, ready to embrace complexity.

Stéphanie will detail her UX research process for the redesign of an enterprise tool used daily by 1000+ internal users: the challenges it had to overcome and opportunities uncovered. Discover why she actually enjoyed working in Enterprise UX, what surprised her when she started, and how to grow in such environments. So, let's improve employees' tools!

Transcript

1. A Journey in Enterprise UX Stéphanie Walter - 2023
2. stephaniewalter.design @WalterStephanie 🦊 UX Researcher & UX Designer 
 Mobile expert. Pixel & CSS Lover
3. I design products & softwares used by internal employees for their daily work.
4. Products, Softwares & Services built internally in the company SaaS product sold as packages to be then used by employees
5. Historically, enterprise products meant”boring” “ugly” and “hard to use”.
6. One Internal Tool, a LOT of different user groups
7. User Research in the context of internal enterprise users
8. We started with quantitative data ๏ What and how much: current pages usage. ๏ Analysis (business) of the content of the current pages.
9. We analysed the content of the current pages ๏ Check for duplicated content ๏ Rework the information architecture to make it easier to navigate
10. We got the “as is”, and the “what”, we need the why and how. Time for user research!
11. BEFORE starting research, find people to help you get familiar with the business process, the jargon, and what is currently into place.
12. Getting access to internal users ๏ I made friends with different departments (got closer to their support teams). ๏ I asked for referrals for more users. ๏ People are usually happy to help you improve the tools they work with. ๏ Build a community of users you can involved for continuous research.
13. User Interviews & Task Analysis ๏ Understand tasks and activities ๏ Get pain-points, needs and frustrations If you had a magic wand, what would you change to make this activity/task easier for you? Can you remember you biggest pain or issue when trying to perform this activity? How do you overcome this today? Pain points What actions or decisions do you take in order to accomplish this? Describe an activity or task that requires you to use Scrap« in your dailywork. Activity How? changes Rythm & duration Hew long does it take? erform your activity? ^ Priority If you had a magic wand, what would you change to make this activity/task Can you remember you biggest pain Describe an activity or task that requires you to use Scrap« in your dailywork. What actions or decisions do you take in order to accomplish this? Magic Activity How? How do you overcome this today? A'rfw-J- dL Rythm & duration How long does it take? do you to (hi perform your activity? ^ Priority If you had a magic wand, what would you change to make this activity/task easier for you? Can you remember you biggest pain or issue when trying to perform this activity? How do you overcome this today? Pain points Describe an activity or task that requires you to use Scrap« in your dailywork. Activity changes Rythm & duration Hew long does it take? ^ Priority
14. In context, more task oriented interviews
15. Keep trace & document everything. Even if it’s out of scope. It might be useful in the future!
16. People are not used to User Centered process. During research, they tend to express solutions. You will have to dig to find the needs.
17. “I need an export to excel button” she said…
18. What she needed was to only see the active projects in the table… Filters!
19. Reporting and defining priorities List big pain-points and needs Prioritize those with the team: fast track vs big topics
20. Fast track ๏ Content, small features where we don’t have time / don’t need to do intensive research ๏ Mostly UI design ๏ Use the design system to migrate the content
21. Fast track ๏ Ask a few users for quick mockup feedback ๏ Gather more feedback on the developed feature
22. Specific research for big topics ๏ Gather the previous research on the topic (if it exists) ๏ Schedule follow up research sessions on that topic ๏ Iterated on some design solutions ๏ Usability Testing (Axure prototype / beta version)
23. Observational testing ๏ Observational feedback session on beta version that we opened to some users. ๏ “Please try to do whatever you needed to do with [oldtool], but use [newtool] instead”.
24. ๏ I tell people I will answer all their questions at the end ๏ I make sure I have time at the end of the session for this ๏ It’s okay, on topics that are NOT related to the tasks in the test Usability tests can become training sessions
25. User diary - understand usage over a period of time The trigger: when you were trying to do something with the new tool but couldn’t and had to fallback to the old one
26. What I wish I knew sooner about enterprise UX and users
27. Complex business require complex interfaces. Don’t oversimplify it!
28. Content might be here for a reason. But you are allowed to question it.
29. Users need data on those screens. We need to find a way to bring those to them.
30. DO NOT TRUNCA…!
31. General Information 21,74 M EUR EIB Authorised Amount (up to) Normal Workflow Type Microfinance, Regufeers/Migration Special Operation Characteristics Ice cream donut gummies marzipan candy lollipop jujubes jelly. Gingerbread pudding sweet roll bonbon candy cupcake gingerbread pie tiramisu. Chocolate cake marzipan candy canes macaroon ice cream donut carrot cake chocolate. Project Description 52,97 M EUR Project Cost In M EUR Currency Show more General Information 21,74 M EUR EIB Authorised Amount (up to) Normal Workflow Type Microfinance, Regufeers/Migration Special Operation Characteristics Ice cream donut gummies marzipan candy lollipop jujubes jelly. Gingerbread pudding sweet roll bonbon candy cupcake gingerbread pie tiramisu. Chocolate cake marzipan candy canes macaroon ice cream donut carrot cake chocolate.Ice cream donut gummies marzipan candy lollipop jujubes jelly. Gingerbread pudding sweet roll bonbon candy cupcake gingerbread pie tiramisu. Chocolate cake marzipan candy canes macaroon ice cream donut carrot cake chocolate.Ice cream donut gummies marzipan candy lollipop jujubes jelly. Gingerbread pudding sweet roll bonbon candy cupcake gingerbread pie tiramisu. Chocolate cake marzipan candy canes macaroon ice cream donut carrot cake chocolate. Project Description 52,97 M EUR Project Cost In M EUR Currency Show less 40 words for the show more Less than 61 caracters, we show it as normal def list item A Mandate Name Here 31.12.2023 Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Show less Manage Holding Fund A Mandate Name Here 31.12.2023 Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Chocolate lollipop gummies topping cheesecake caramels pie. Pie cupcake tart sesame snaps sweet tootsie roll. Show more Manage Holding Fund Show more / show less mecanism
32. People work with the data: don’t block copy/paste and help them extract & share the content if needed.
33. Export features, when needed
34. Make it easy to collaborate & share content with colleagues
35. Users don’t care about what data goes into what tool in your IT ecosystem. 
 But they care about how many clicks!
36. Item Page in My Tool Cross linking, to avoid the “extra” clicks Same Item in XTool Same Item in ZTool
37. Automate data retrieval across systems and avoid copy pasting (wait, what?)
38. Customization options are useful in productivity tools.
39. If people invest time to customise, keep their options!
40. Trainings is expected 
 (in different forms and shapes)
41. Some people need and expect it! And some hate it. Make it optional, but, offer training, in different formats (live sessions, FAQ, etc.)
42. Training doesn’t mean your interface isn’t good.
43. A user interface is like a joke. If you have to explain it, it’s not that good. Like any good joke, you might need some prior knowledge (business) to understand it. Doesn’t make it a bad joke. Or a bad interface. “ ”
44. Training sessions can be used for user research, to gather feedback, first impression, etc.
45. The challenges you might face in such environments…
46. A lot of security and tool constraints.
47. Be flexible, the tool doesn’t make the designer 🧠
48. Accept you may not be as efficient at first.
49. Bad user experience is the norm because perceived value of design is low. 
 But… it gets better.
50. Users are starting to demand better tools & experience.
51. Make the research & design process public, visible.
52. Turn developers, BAs, QAs, colleagues into design advocates.
53. Don’t bring an opinion to a data fight: measure, bring proof.
54. Monitoring & Measuring ๏ Usage with Matomo (daily session, events, search, etc.) ๏ UMUX-lite Survey (perceived usability and usefulness) ๏ Feedback and Verbatims
55. Change management becomes part of your job as a designer too
56. ๏ Some people need a little hand holding, it’s fine ๏ Prepare, support, and help individuals, teams, and organizations with change
57. Get champions and advocates in your user base
58. Early Adopters and Email signatures
59. Complex internal organisations slow things down. 3.
60. Patience: you are in for the long game
61. Find political allies who can help you move things and break silos.
62. Understand what makes people click and leverage it!
63. Complexity is scary… Cut it down in smaller parts. And document your process!
64. Analysis Asking for help (business) to make sens of the complexity. Complexity Fear: how am I supposed to design that?? Solution Design Eventually, everything clicks into place User Research Finding & understanding more of the puzzle. By stephaniewalter.design
65. There is a lot of improvement opportunities. We need you!